I refer to the letter MIC's caste-based politics disgusting . This is not something new but it is an open secret all this while. All the things that I have read (certainly more than once) about S Samy Vellu and his bunch of henchmen are undoubtedly true. They have always been so.

However, let us all remember that whether it be Palanivel, Sothinathan or whatever Vel or Nathan that may take over the MIC president's post in the future years, the status quo will remain so as long as Malaysia continues to adopt the affiliation-style of political system with Umno as head of the pack with MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP, etc, playing second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, fiddles respectively.

I personally do not see any possibility for a dramatic change (in the foreseeable future) in the development of Indians in this country with such a political system in place. It only delivers for the Malays to the utter exclusion of all other communities. Let us not forget that the Chinese have also seen their share of the national economy dipping through the years. Government-led asset management companies such as ASN, PNB, Tabung Haji, etc, have taken the lion's share of the national equity, with little or no hope for other communities to stake a fair claim as equal- status stakeholders.

Chairman of Infosys Technologies, Bangalore (one of the biggest giants in the IT industry in the world today employing one million employees and listed on the New York Stock Exchange) NR Narayana Murthy has this to say about our community since he is also one of us:

"The acid test for the survival strength of a community in adverse external circumstances lies not in its ability to merely mobilise political support. The focal point for its future success is its ability to constantly develop its intellectual capital and achieve excellence in its chosen field of activity by demonstrating a high level of sustainable competitiveness at each and every stage of this enrichment process. I am afraid there are no short cuts to these destinations, and ad-hoc state handouts will only distort its vision".

Narayana Murthy goes on to say that the Indians in India do not depend on the state to give them anything because of uncertainties in the political system there and nothing will be forthcoming. The Indians in India are a self-driven lot, everyone from President APJ Abdul Kalam, Ravi Shankar, Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways), Rattan Tata (Tata Group), Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher Airways) to the late Kalpana Chawla (astronaut), Amitabh Bachchan, AR Rahman and Kamal Hassan. The rest is self-explanatory. We Indians in Malaysia have to take a leaf from their books and learn quickly.

Our so-called multi-party political system, of which MIC is a part, functions just like saccharin. It only provides artificial sweetness. It can neither effectively replace the original quality of sugar nor give us the food value of sugar, nor can it ever cure the patient of diabetes!

I rest my case here as it is getting too long.